Here's some great news meloblack fans; thanks to Litrosis, you now have a band to listen to without feeling like a total wuss.

Before we begin, let this be known; I Am Death is a grower of an album. Quick, initial listens will give the impression this is just another typical synthy melodic black metal release. The further you dig into this album, the more that reveals itself. At first, it's merely impressive that a band can rage this fucking hard while still being as a whole, extremely catchy.

Then the cross-breeding happens. Isolating certain keyboard leads, and a few of those slightly neo-classical sounding guitar face-melters, you'd think you're listening to a Sonata Arctica release. Take that Euro-flower-power sound, and slap it between some drums gone into full-blown beast mode, gnashing vocals, and hyper-speed black metal rhythm guitars. Take that sound, then make the whole mix as loud, aggressive, and overwhelming as possible, what you've got is a truly unique experience.

Litrosis have really put themselves in a strange position with I Am Death. They incorporate all these highly catchy, melodic elements and translate them into a sound so aggressive it might not appeal to fans of power metal, but a little too heroic and melodic to appeal to black metal purists. This really isn't a pitfall by any means, just a speculation as to how this fantastic crossover might not see a lot of strong support despite being...well, fantastic!

This will really appeal to people, much like this reviewer, who love a lot of aspects about Euro-power metal, but just find the approach a little too soft. Throw some raging black metal into the mix, and the result is at bare minimum interesting, if not thoroughly enjoyable.

Great review, just checked out the one song on bandcamp and I am impressed.
"This will really appeal to people, much like this reviewer, who love a lot of aspects about Euro-power metal, but just find the approach a little too soft." Any other suggestions for people like that?

Written by M C Vice on 18.05.2012 at 12:30You're saying they're in the same boat as Borknagar?

I would say they're probably more like Dragonlord to be honest. Very cheesy symphonic black metal with Euro flower metal leanings.

I was refering to the 2nd and 3rd sentences of the review for Universal. http://www.metalstorm.net/pub/review.php?review_id=8246
Too black for non-black fans, too non-black for black fans.
If by symphonic black you mean Emperor/Dimmu Borgir/Carach Angren/The Kovenant/Cradle Of Filth then I'm definatly interested. European power is a good bonus.